Sarah's Scribbles

Sarah's Scribbles focuses on adulthood and the maturity of the millennial generation. Andersen described millennials as "liking to laugh at themselves," making common use of self-deprecating humour.[2] The Independent described Sarah's Scribbles as "relatable comics capturing the dilemmas of a bug-eyed millennial who feels ill-equipped for grown-up life." The webcomic is semi-autobiographical, following Andersen's experiences as well as those of her friends and pets.[3] Andersen has said that the main character is "technically" called Sarah, as the character is her, but she avoids using her name, saying: "I feel like people project themselves onto her... I feel like calling her Sarah within the panels has this strange effect of making her more of an individual and less relatable."[4] Andersen has deliberately chosen not to publish photographs of her face, instead opting to present herself through her black-haired character.[2]

Andersen's webcomic follows the messy-haired protagonist, who has to deal with social anxiety, body image issues and laziness.[5] One comic shows Andersen 'borrowing' a sweater from her boyfriend;[6] other topics include being made to feel inadequate by fitness fanatics, dreading Mondays, considering matching socks an achievement while former school friends raise children.[7] The comic has also been described as a satire of "toxic masculinity" by some sources.[8] Andersen said in 2016 she mainly gains inspiration from her own life and from seeing what people on the internet are thinking and feeling.[2]

Sarah Andersen at Lucca Comics & Games in 2016.

Andersen started creating and uploading Sarah's Scribbles on Tumblr in 2013.[2] She was studying at the Maryland Institute College of Art at the time, and after she graduated in 2014 she worked on the webcomic full-time.[7] According to Andersen, the comic was originally called Doodle Time, but GoComics asked Andersen to change the name when they syndicated it.[4][9] Andersen has said that publishing Sarah's Scribbles as a webcomic allows her to observe the reactions of her readership in real time, which she said allows her to do a better job. Andersen's webcomic has a five-panel format, which Andersen developed because it worked well with the scroll display of Tumblr and continues to work well on other websites, such as Instagram.[2]

In March 2016, Andersen released a print collection of Sarah's Scribbles comics titled Adulthood is a Myth. The book was published by Andrews McMeel Publishing.[10] A follow-up was published in March 2017, titled Big Mushy Happy Lump, and a third volume, Herding Cats was released in March 2018, all from the same publisher. Oddball was later released. She has also released a calendar and planner featuring her comics. The first book, Adulthood is a Myth, has been translated into multiple languages, and there are several fan translations of the webcomic.[11][12]

Andersen said that she is often asked what the character of Sarah "would be like all grown up", and has said that "in some ways Fangs [another comic by Andersen] has the answer."[9]

Sarah's Scribbles was the second-most read comic on the Tapas platform in 2019, with 46.9 million views and 176,000 subscribers.[13]

Every Sarah's Scribbles book has won the Goodreads Choice Award in the "Graphic Novel & Comics" category, winning in 2016, 2017, and 2018.[3][10][14][15] The webcomic won the Ringo Award for Best Comic Strip or Panel in 2018,[16][17] and was nominated for Best Comic Strip or Panel and for Best Cartoonist in 2020.[18][19]

The Independent has described her first book as "hilarious" and "relatable"[3] and her webcomic as capturing the horrible realization that being a grown-up is pretty awful.[7] The Beat said of Sarah's Scribbles, "bottom line, people like a short laugh that reflects their live as it is lived."[20]

• Official website
• Sarah's Scribbles on Tapastic
• Sarah's Scribbles on GoComics
• Sarah's Scribbles on Webtoon